Putting God's Word into Practice…

1 Timothy 6:11-21 Intentional Pursuit

by dailybiblereader2012 on February 1, 2013

This section opened up with Paul telling Timothy to “flee these things” being the love of money and the desire to be rich. The best way to flee one thing is to pursue the opposite! In this case, Paul said to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness. I don’t know about you, but pursuing those things is a full time job! In fact, Paul called it a “good fight of faith.”

What we fix our eyes on will determine what we pursue. If our eyes are fixed on eternal life (17) our lives will not be filled with pursuing temporary, earthly pleasures, but those things that draw us closer to God–the blessed, Sovereign, immortal King of kings and Lord of lords! Along this journey/path that leads to eternal life, there are many riches and blessings along the way that are given by God for us to enjoy (17). We can flee the riches we think we want to pursue God and receive the riches that he wants us to have. They will be much more enjoyable and do not lead to ruin, destruction and sorrow.

One way that we can enjoy the riches of God is to share them generously (18). This lays up a good foundation for our eternal life as it lays up true treasure in Heaven–our eternal home.

We need to examine our desires and pursuits because they lead somewhere. When our desire and hope and pursuits are toward God, we will experience fulfillment, joy and contentment. When our hope is set on temporary riches we will experience a lifetime of disappointments. Even if we achieve the “riches” we pursue, a lot will be lost along the way and all could be lost for the life that follows death. Nothing on earth is going with us or belongs to us then!